Politician goes to court over PDP, INEC's removal of name as party's candidate

A CONTESTANT in the May 22, 2022 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  Lagos House of Assembly election for Ikeja 1 Constituency, Dr. John Okoro Kome, has asked the Federal High Court, Lagos to quash the PDP’s removal of his name as the winner of the election and the party’s candidate.

Kome prayed the court to order INEC and the PDP to publish his name as the PDP’s candidate and flag bearer for the March 2023 general elections into Lagos State House of Assembly, Ikeja Constituency 1,

He made the prayer and others in a suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the PDP and one Abiodun Ezekiel Olufolarinwa, before Justice D.E. Osiagor.

Kome, in an Originating Summons filed before the court by his counsel Don Akaegbu, listed the INEC, PDP, and Olufolarinwa as 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants respectively.

Kome is challenging INEC and the PDP for submitting the name of the 3rd defendant as the winner of the election in which he claimed he (Kome) was the actual winner.

In an affidavit in support of the Originating Summons, Kome explained that having purchased the party’s nomination form, screened and cleared by the party, he contested the election with the 3rd defendants as the only two contestants for the party.

“A day before the conduct of the primary election and on the day of the election, the 3rd Defendant being my only opponent and fellow contestant stepped down for me, leading to my emergence as the consensus candidate and winner of the primary election for Ikeja constituency 1, ” he averred.

He avered further that after the successful primary election which was observed, supervised and witnessed by INEC officials,  the police and other security agents, he was later issued with the Certified True Copy, CTC, of the election results by INEC.

He claimed that he was shocked when he learnt someone in the party wanted his name substituted with that of the 3rd Defendant who allegedly stepped down for him.

Kome added that at the deadline for the submission of the candidate’s name to INEC by the party, his fears were confirmed as the 3rd defendant’s name was submitted by the party as the winner and published by INEC on July 15 and 22, 2022 respectively.

He is therefore asking for the court to declare him as the winner of the election and the PDP’s flag bearer in the forthcoming general election having emerged as the consensus candidate during the primary.

Also, a declaration that “the nomination and submission of the name of the 3rd Defendant as the 2nd Defendant’s candidate or flag bearer for the March 2023 general elections for Lagos State House of Assembly, Ikeja Constituency 1 is ultra-vires, null and void.

He is also seeking “an order nullifying the purported nomination, submission and publication of the name of the 3rd Defendant as the candidate or flag bearer for the March 2023 general elections into Lagos State House of Assembly, Ikeja Constituency 1 by the 1st and 2nd Defendants.”

He is also asking the court to direct “the 1st and 2nd Defendants to forthwith respectively submit and publish the name of the plaintiff as the candidate and flag bearer of the 2nd Defendant for the March 2023 general elections into Lagos State House of Assembly, Ikeja Constituency 1, according him due recognition as same.”

The matter has been adjourned till September 5, 2022 for report of service.